The Exceptions and the Rules in Global Musical Diversity

Global music diversity is a popular topic for both scientific and humanities researchers, but often different reasons. Scientific research typically focuses on the generalities through measurement statistics, while humanists emphasize exceptions using qualitative approaches. But these two approaches need not be mutually exclusive. Using quantitative approach to identify musical outliers discussion of most unusual songs, we can combine unite knowledge diversity. Objectively defining delicate task, having historically been subject Eurocentric Jukebox, dataset containing almost 6,000 songs from over 1,000 societies coded 37 “Cantometric” variables style, designate unusualness song as frequency its relative their regional frequency. metrics in diversity, present some individual (from Panpipe ensemble Kursk, Russia), comparison repertoires Malay, Kel Aïr, Moroccan Berber cultures. We also ask whether result social organisation or isolation other groups. There weak evidence that predicted by kinship cultural isolation, predictors are heavily outweighed finding best knowing society they come – quantitatively supports existence style.